Formed January 22, 1858 (137th county)
La Salle County (6,886), Cotulla (3,603)
The Modern courthouse is a type typical to west Texas. It was built in 1931 in tan brick, ceramic and terra cotta at 101 Courthouse Square. Henry T. Phelps is the designer of this structure. The building was renovated in 2012. Four courthouses (1884, 1897, 1904, and 1931) have served the county since it was organized on January 22, 1858. Gravy’s Rancho was the first county seat but no courthouse. All the courthouses were in Cotulla. The county was formed from Bexar County as the 137th county. La Salle County was named French explorer Rene-Robert Cavelier Sieur de La Salle. Cotulla’s namesake is Joe Cotulla, an early settler.
La Salle County government consists of a sheriff, a County Judge, and 4 Commissioners. One District Court Judge serves La Salle, Atascosa, Frio, Karnes, and Wilson counties and One County Court Judge serves La Salle County. The county is in far south-central Texas, southwest of San Antonio, Texas and north of Laredo, Texas. The Nueces River and the Frio River both cross the county from west to east. The county center is 16.9 miles Southeast of Cotulla nearer Artesia Wells. The county is surrounded clockwise by Frio, Atascosa, McMullen, Duval, Webb, Dimmit, and Zavala counties.
The area of the county is 1494 square miles. It is 26 out of 254 in the state. It ranks 189 out of 254 in population in the state. It has a density of 4.61 persons per square mile making it 203 out of 254 in the state. La Salle County has 60.4% of its population in its incorporated areas. Interstate Highway 35 comes from Frio County to the north and exits into Webb County to the south. The county is a tall rectangle with Cotulla is the western third. Cotulla is the county seat and the largest city. It is 52.3% of the county population. The county seat is pronounced KOE-TOOL-A.
Cotulla
Encinal
